Revulsion and/or disapproval are what the writer is trying to evoke within the readers. Therefore, to begin, the writer should decide who or what they want the readers to feel disgusted towards. What aspect(s) of the character/object/events that evoke the unpleasant feelings?
In this case, eating, but it is neither the food nor the character’s behavior/physical aspects that are what’s disgusting. It certainly is a little tricky, as the two most obvious elements: food and character, are not to be the main focus. My idea is to make the situation, context and the meaning of the meal disgusting.
Yeah, illusive, here’s an example.
Yes, I know you said "a small example". I'm sorry, it is very long because I’m bad at building context with a short amount of words. ?
It has been three years since John had sneakily joined the enemy forces as a spy. It was an ultra-secret mission; not even his family was to be told of the truth. Serving under the enemy Lord, there’s not a single second that John didn't remind himself of what he was truly fighting for, and the atrocity this lord had brought to his home country.
Over these years, John’s brother Jim had become a captain of the army from his home country, just as John had risen in the enemy forces as the lord’s righthand man.
Jim never believed that his dear brother was a traitor to his home country, and had been seeking an opportunity to confront him in person for years.
One day, Jim was on a mission to transport a supply of food for his army. The enemy Lord knew of this delivery and handed the task of hijacking this supply to John.
The brothers meet for the first time in years, and Jim finally gets to confront John. Jim received a bullet to the head from John, instead of his answer.
John so wanted to tell Jim everything he had been through; he so wanted to explain why he had been doing all of this. Yet he couldn’t; he knew that the enemy Lord had planted eyes nearby to watch how he'd perform in this mission.
After John’s success, the enemy Lord held a lavish celebration banquet for it. John was to join, obviously. During the banquet, John sees a plethora of delicious meals comprised of hundreds of different ingredients, yet only the rice used what John had gotten from his brother. He suddenly understood: the enemy Lord never lacked food.
He had to do it because his home country was willing to sacrifice that little bit of food and soldiers' lives to plant a spy like himself on the enemy’s side; he had to do it because the enemy team knew that killing a blood relative was the best way to prove his loyalty to them.
Nevertheless, John ate; nevertheless, John smiled. He spoke on what an honor it was to serve under a Lord like that to every enemy present. The drinks were quenching, and the foods were great, but John found them as hard to swallow as clay.
If you find that enemy Lord or even the home country or the war between them was disgusting, then I think I've done my job.
(Open to feedback.)
I read more of your reply and, am sorry I misunderstood you back there.
To make the act of eating itself disgusting, with nothing wrong with the characters, and no one is triggered, is difficult to do even in video media. That Denethor eating scene from LotR movie example you used, placed a person singing but is constantly interrupted by Denethor’s magnified chewing voices. Viewers (not all) would rule on the side of the singer and (may) be like “Oh my god Denethor just eat like a normal person and stop interrupting the song! You disgusting potato!”
In writing, with descriptions alone, my take then is to just focus on the details, even if it feels improbable, of the eating process. It’d be better (I think) to focus on descriptions of fluids. Include anatomical terms if ever appropriate.
John takes a bite out of the stake; his saliva, thickened from hunger, is drawn out into a line from his tongue to his palate as he opens his mouth. The sticky line is broken when the chunk of meat is shoved in. His jaw smushes down, squeezing tiny drops of a mixture of his spit and the juice in the meat out through the spaces between his teeth.
John then has a piece of potato. It is much easier to mash than the beef. The veggie paste soon takes up any remaining space between John’s molars that the strips of meat couldn’t entirely fill up.
A drop of oil slips down the corner of his lips, dragging a trail of fat down John’s chin. He doesn’t notice; he is too busy enjoying his food. The drop eventually falls, landing directly in the spoonful of John’s next bite which he happily sends into his half-filled mouth without any hesitation.
Near the end of the meal, John raises the plate and begins shoveling the remaining juices and left-over smeared pastes onto his fleshy tongue. His chewing becomes more and more slurpy as his oral cavity hosts more and more watery contents. When the condition is right, a small bubble would even form under John’s tongue, only to be crushed into a squishy explosion of debris when he chews again.
After John finally finishes, he smacks his lips a few times in reminiscence of the tasty treat. He then reaches for the napkin with glistering fingers and wipes the remaining oil near his mouth into a crushed tissue.
I guess? I think that's normal enough, and I think that ain't very appetizing.
(Open to feedback)
